On That Note: Bellydancing show features vibrant costumes, energetic performances

After Sting recorded his last huge hit, “Desert Rose,” a dozen years ago, his longtime manager Miles Copeland, was inspired.

Sting’s song, which smacks of the Middle East, appealed to American music fans.

“After Sting had a lot of success with that song, it made me think,” Copeland said while calling from his Los Angeles office. “If Americans liked that song, maybe there was something else from the Middle East they would like.”

Bellydancing popped inside Copeland’s entrepreneurial mind.

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“I thought about how American’s are moved by Middle-Eastern music and probably even more moved by that music with a bellydancer. You have the visual along with the songs. Every city, no matter how small in the country has Middle-Eastern restaurants with bellydancers. If only people could see these talented dancers on stage as opposed to the confines of little spaces around tables.”

Well, Copeland liberated some bellydancers, who are part of his “Bellydance Superstars: World Music and Dance” show, which is slated for today at the Keswick Theater.

The show features more than a dozen dancers, who render Egyptian and Turkish styles of bellydancing. There are solo and group dances set to tribal music. It’s a lavish show, featuring vibrant costumes and energetic performances. The show, which started in small clubs and made its way to the mega-rock festival Lollapalooza, is in its tenth year.

“It just keeps growing,” Copeland said. “It’s something different. It’s kind of like The Riverdance. It’s this relatively obscure dance, which connects with people. It’s the rhythm of the music and the beauty of the dance. Some people ask me if it’s the music or the dance, which attracts people to this show and I say it’s both. People are entranced by the dancing and after the show, they rush to the merch table to buy the music. We sell so many CDs at each show.”

It’s been a gradual rise for the Bellydance Superstars, but the former CEO of IRS Records is patient and confident.

“I remember when people laughed at me when I started IRS,” Copeland said. “People wondered how we would compete with the major labels. Then in 1981, I had the Police at number two (on the singles chart) and The Go-Gos at number one. I’ve been pretty good at putting things together and I really love what I see with this show. It’s something different and fun in this predictable world of entertainment.”